‘The Vampire Diaries’ Recap: Season 5, Episode 19, ‘Man on Fire’

Well things sure seem comfy cozy between Stefan and Elena at the beginning of this week’s episode of The Vampire Diaries. When one brother leaves her, it seems Elena is quickly onto another.

In other news, a traveler must still occupy Tyler’s body because his hiding place for the key (the piano) turns out to be a big fat lie. Jeremy, Matt and Damon are going to have to get creative to stop Markos and his gang of followers from settling in on Mystic Falls.

Speaking of Markos, he’s still determined to break this curse the witches put on his people – and I’m starting to think this is why the Other Side is rebelling so much lately. Something tells me we’ll find out later this episode…

So Enzo is still desperately searching for his long-lost love, Maggie and for the first time he reveals a photo that shows her dead in 1960 – and it looks like death by vampire. In fact, he even challenges Stefan to see if her sudden death was during one of his “ripper” phases. How rude!

“So Stefan, are you ready to talk about what you did to the love of my life,” Enzo asks.

Well things sure escalated quickly after that commercial break. When we return to our favorite show, Enzo is in full on interrogation mode with Elena and Stefan tied up; yet, Stefan maintains he’s innocent. And then it turns very “an eye for an eye” when Enzo makes it clear he’s going to get revenge.

But of course, the writers throw us a curveball. Stefan has a flashback where he actually remembers his encounter with Maggie – in fact, she’s pushing Stefan to reveal where Damon is…so she can kill him. Cue the protective brother syndrome – Stefan admits he tried to scare her out of town, but he didn’t kill her. Enzo is so outraged he grabs Bonnie to threaten Stefan into telling “the truth”.

Of course, it works. Stefan fake admits he killed his beloved Maggie, and with that, Enzo throws a wooden stake across the room into Stefan – just barely missing his heart.

And now for another curveball. The scene flashes to Damon and the sheriff, who has provided him with a bit more information on Mystic Falls criminal history in the 60s. Turns out this sparks a memory Damon has repressed…

Well after that dramatic realization, it’s time for yet another flashback. Enzo reflects on a time when Maggie asks him to turn her into a vampire. In response, he compels her to leave and forget all about him and the fact that he ever loved her. So now I’m confused…

So just in the nick of time, Damon shows up and tries to talk some sense into Enzo. He tells him of Maggie’s connection to Augustine and how she once tried to capture him. This is what caused Damon to kill her – and the fact that his “humanity” switch was off. He didn’t know it was Enzo’s Maggie, and finally we start to see Enzo’s anger cooling down…

Oops! Spoke to soon. Enzo began cooling down because it looks like he took some of Damon’s advice – he’s officially turned off his humanity switch too. So this should get interesting…

Back to the travelers – looks like they’ve almost completed breaking the curse and they’ve got Tyler as their prisoner. I’m thinking his friends will surely come rescue him, but unfortunately they’re all tied up with Enzo’s shenanigans.

Let’s jump back to that while we’re on that topic. Well, after knocking out their new witchy friend and Elena – Stefan steps up to the plate to take Enzo down. Looks like this is going to be a bit trickier than they were hoping for…But in true Vampire Diaries fashion, Stefan is able to rip his heart out right at the last second. Phew!

In the next scene we see Damon has taken Elena back to his home so she can recover from Enzo’s attack. It almost looks like he’s about to forgive her, or is that wishful thinking on my part?

Now for the tearjerker of the week – Bonnie is starting to come to terms with the fact that all of the disruption with Other Side might mean she will be called back soon. She should say her goodbyes to her friends and Jeremy, blond witch claims. It’s the only a matter of time before the Other Side breaks the spell keeping her with them. How can this be…

Just as Bonnie starts to tell Jeremy they need to say goodbye before it’s too late, Enzo shows up to “pass through” the anchor. And as Enzo passes on, the woman sent to the Other Side earlier in the episode returns to Markos and the rest of the crew and she’s come back no longer a vampire – in fact, she’s dead. This is all Markos needed to start his work on forming a place for the travelers to live, but before this can happen – they need a lot more blood, he claims.

And in a last effort to spare Damon’s feelings, Stefan decides not to tell him that he was forced to kill his only friend, Enzo. Damon reflects with Stefan on all the great things Enzo did for him while they were in Augustine together, and for a moment, I actually start to get upset.

“I have to help him,” Damon quivers. “And so do you, Stefan.”

What will Stefan do? Does Damon deserve to know the truth? And what about Bonnie – what will become of her once the Other Side falls apart?